Federal Decree-Law No. 20/2018 (the AML Law) was enacted on 23 September 2018, was published in the Federal Official Gazette on 30 September 2018 and came into force on 31 October 2018. Its formal title is Federal Decree-Law No. 20/2018 on the Confrontation of Crimes of Money Laundering and the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Unlawful Organisations. It repealed and replaced the entirety of the earlier statute on the subject, Federal Law No. 4/2002.

The 2002 statute imposed AML compliance obligations on specific types of business activities. In particular, obligations were imposed on banks, other financial institutions, insurance companies, accountants, lawyers and businesses active in the Dubai International Financial Centre and the Abu Dhabi Global Market. In 2014, amendments were introduced that expanded the AML compliance obligation to all businesses and professions. This is continued by the new AML Law, but with somewhat greater precision.